My strength is my weakness @loganmckeller - Tumblr Blog

“You stayed in?” Taylor asked, dubious. Then her eyes widened. “Oh, I get it. In bed all night?”

Logan watched Pepper shrug, reaching across the table to wipe sauce from the corner of his lip. He smiled in thanks, looking back down at the pasta he was devouring.

“Yeah, I guess. I was on duty for 42 hours and got back really late,” Pepper explained. “Logan prepared me a bath and let me sleep for 14 hours.” Her eyes glazed over just thinking about it. She sighed, shifting her gaze to her husband. “You were wonderful, Lo.”

“Anything for you.”

“Oh. Ew. We’re eating. None of this.” Murphy muttered moving his fork in a circular motion to mean whatever was happening. “Please.”

“Hold on. Wait a minute. Yesterday was Valentine’s.” Taylor looked baffled. “Are you having a makeup date, or something? Or did you already have a pre-Valentine’s date?”

It would have almost looked comical how Pepper and Logan blinked at the same time, processing the question.

It’s been years since they talked about it. Married for four years now, they’ve been together almost a decade and they haven’t ‘celebrated’ Valentine’s in most of them.

“Um,” Logan started, looking towards Pepper for support.

Pepper only shrugged. Being the woman, Pepper has had to answer this question more than Logan, as sexist as society still was. Pepper was expected to look forward to it. Logan was expected to stress over how they were supposed to spend February 14th. They conformed during their Hogwarts years, of course. But work wasn’t as easy to manoeuvre around as school.

“Logan and I have a weekly date night. We don’t the see the point of spending one day special.”

“Sounds boring,” Murphy muttered.

“Yesterday was Wednesday-”

“Thursday, love,” Logan corrected, knowing going on duty sometimes messed up the time in Pepper’s head.

“It confuses my brain sometimes, ok? I go to work and the sun isn’t up yet today, and I go home when the sun is already down the next day. It’s hard to keep up.” Logan just wrapped his arms around her because the first few times she went on duty she looked ready to fall asleep on her feet.

“Thursday,” she nodded thanks to Logan. “It’s completely impractical to go out.”

“You’re off today,” Taylor reminded her.

Pepper ignore her. “Traffic worsens significantly.” Thank god she can apparate. “Prices go up. Restaurants get crowded. It’s a nightmare.”

Taylor was looking incredulously at her. “You talk like you’re single.”

“I’m happily married, thank you.” To prove her point, Pepper extended her hand, and Logan caught it as if he already knew she wanted them to hold hands.

And maybe he did. The bonding that happened during their marriage made them empaths to each other. Most of the time he couldn’t tell if it was just him knowing her, or if it was the magical bond thing he was told lit them up when they were saying their vows. He couldn’t remember. He was too busy looking at Pepper’s eyes at the time.

“Logan bought us a yacht last week?” Pepper tried to save face.

“What the f-” Murphy threw up his hands, still in disbelief at how rich the couple were, despite working with Logan for 2 years now.

“That was for your parents, Pep,” Logan reminded her.

“Oh, yeah! So they can go on that cruise.” Pepper had started to build her contacts list ever since joining the Auror Academy, and her biggest case so far involved saving the daughter of the biggest potions distributor in the Wizarding World, who also happened to dabble in muggle markets. She pulled a few strings. Golden strings really. Heavy duty ones.

Taylor dropped her head to prop it up with her hand, overdramatically facepalming. “You’re not doing this couple thing right.”

Pepper pursed her lips, disagreeing silently.

Logan and she didn’t celebrate Valentine’s day. But the day prior, she remembered bribing one of their handlers to let her go for an hour in the early morning so she could have breakfast with Logan. She was running on zero sleep, but she brightened at seeing him. They fed each other pancakes, even if they preferred the same kind anyway so they had the same flavors on their plates. And she remembered burrowing in his embrace, reluctantly letting go, and stealing a small, affectionate kiss before disapparating back.

Logan was chewing thoughtfully, also remembering the day prior.

Pepper’s official time out of work was 5PM, but that rarely ever happened. He had bought dinner for them, as inept as he still was at cooking. But the hours had passed until it was nearing 10PM. So he shifted their plans to a bath and sleep right after. He’d decorate the bathroom with candles and waved his wand to keep the water warm for Pepper. He helped her undress when she got home, but they never did anything more than hold each other that night. He fell asleep with his arms around her and his lips pressed to the back of her head.

He smiled, lifting Pepper’s hand he was holding to his lips, winking at her. She smiled back, a rose color slightly dusting her cheeks.

Taylor sighed, unaware of their thoughts, but eyeing they interlocked hands. “Maybe you can kiss my hand, too, Logan.”

Pepper raised her eyebrows at her friend. “Uh. No. We might not have done anything yesterday, but Logan’s lips have been somewhere this morning that you do not want to touch you-”

Taylor lifted her hand hurriedly. “Oh. Girl. That’s too much information-”

“That’s it. I need a drink.” Murphy stood up and walked towards the bar.

Pepper only laughed, which prompted Logan to lean in for a kiss, unable to help himself after remembering last night and that morning.

#Valentines

loganmckeller

Ink Part 1

loganmckeller

peppermantovani:

Pepper would admit that she was more than thrilled to have the Mckeller siblings at her house. It all worked out that she had finished cleaning a little earlier. The decorations within were minimal for the Mantovani family standards, but that would change quickly in the next coming days.

Being around Logan, even in the short few minutes since their arrival, had Pepper immediately feeling twice more awake. “Come on in!” She hung their coats up in the hall closet before turning back to them. Pointing towards the hallway, “I was just about to make myself something to eat, actually. I spent all day cleaning.” She let out a groan, thankfully, however, that she had managed to shower after.

“What brings you to the Mantovani Christmas Display Home?” She gave an amused grin, motioning to the living room which was filled with a large Christmas tree. There were decorations on every branch that would hold one and the fireplace held the family stockings. It was a sea of shopping bags, however, that filled up most of the free space under and around the tree.

Pepper’s gaze went to Logan as they walked into the kitchen. It was good to see him, even better than she managed to convince him to visit. She wondered what tattoo would appear on her skin come her birthday, no doubt in her mind that they would have matching ones.

“Well-”

“Logan was mopey.”

Logan had started to gesture with an open hand, but closed it. “I wasn’t.”

Katie settled herself in the kitchen island as soon as they got there, comfortable in the Mantovani house. She was 98% sure they were soulmates, and that meant this was going to be a second house by default in the future. She was sure it was nearer than Logan thought it was.

In response to Logan, Katie only directed a condescending smile towards him, her younger face not at all dampening the effect. She slid her gaze towards Pepper. “Logan was mopey.”

Logan rolled his eyes, trying to save face. He was always trying to do so around Katie lately. All that teasing he’d been doing when she was a lot smaller was coming to bite him in the ass. He pressed a kiss to the back of Pepper’s head as he passed by her, hand coming up to briefly squeeze her side.

“Fine,” he relented, sitting across from his sister, facing sideways a little so he could still see Pepper. “I was maybe a little quiet the past few days.”

“Mopey.”

“I missed you, ok?” Logan muttered folding his arms in front of him.

loganmckeller

Ink Part 1

loganmckeller

“We should visit Pepper,” Katie insisted, sticking her spoon into her dessert.

They currently sat at a table by the window in Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour with Logan staring at his order and Katie almost finished with hers. Logan was already halfway to the decision to visit Pepper, having gone home to the Mckeller’s residence, and it was no secret that he hated being there. Which means he didn’t leave Hogwarts just to stay at the large mansion.

He shook his head. “We’ll bother them.”

“You already made sure we won’t by booking us a hotel room so we won’t have to sleep there. Although, I have a feeling you plan to visit everyday anyway…” Katie took another spoonful into her mouth before shrugging her shoulders are her older brother.

“Why do you have so much to say about this?” Logan demanded, deciding he’d better start properly eating his own ice cream before it all melted.

Katie shrugged again, looking out the window in thought. “I’d have done the same with my boyfriend.”

Logan sputtered, glad he’d just swallowed a spoonful so he didn’t spit out ice cream everywhere as his head snapped up to his sister. He was about to start cursing out a storm but Katie caught his face between her two small hands, directing a bland look at him. “I was being hypothetical.”

“How do you even know what that word means?” Logan asked, momentarily forgetting about the supposed boyfriend.

“Well, that’s how learning works, you know, you learn something new everyday, and it just so happens I like learning new words.” She leaned back as she spoke, taking a bite of the last of her ice cream before nodding to herself.

“Right, we should go.” Katie stood, moved Logan’s own ice cream away from him after her tried to reach for it, and grabbed her brother arms and started tugging.

Logan hurriedly took another bite and spoke with ice cream in his mouth. “Woah, what’s the hurry?”

“Don’t pretend you can wait another minute to see her.” Katie insisted as Logan took another spoonful to try and finish his dessert. She made a face at him.

He made a few, too, starting to get-

“That’s a trigeminal headache.”

He made an even worse face, making her laugh. “Nerd,” he muttered, finally letting her pull him up.

“Dork,” she muttered back, linking their arms so Logan could lead them away.

~~~

“Well, I’d love to stand here outside in the cold with you, Logan, but how about we knock?” Katie was almost bouncing on the balls of her feet, eager to see Pepper. Unlike Logan, she only ever saw the older witch a few times a year, and she was excited to see her. They’d been owling each other for a while now and Katie was really glad she could get along with her brother’s girlfriend. It would have been a mess if she didn’t.

Logan shifted in his feet, glaring at his sister’s sass. “When did you get all sarcastic? You used to be so nice.”

“You either get sarcastic or you get mopey when you start entering puberty, and I saw you get mopey and saw that it wasn’t fun-”

“Hey!”

“So I-”

But they both jumped a little when the Mantovani’s door opened in the middle of their banter.

peppermantovani

There had only been a small response from Logan and it irked her slightly but she let it go–mainly because she had been forced to help around the house so much. In fact, that morning had been spent sweating as she cleaned the entirety of the whole house. One shower later and another chapter in her book, Pepper was fully prepared to find something to eat since she had completely forgotten to do so.

Walking down the steps, a pair of voices muffled through the windows caught her attention. Halting her humming, Pepper glanced out the window and grinned. Shaking her head at the sibling banter she could tell was happening from their body language, the Gryffindor moved down the last few steps and opened the door.

Their taking stopped as soon as she did and Pepper ignored the cold weather outside in favor of moving towards Katie. “This is a lovely surprise!” She hugged the younger girl she had come to consider family, tightly, and only let go to greet Logan just as excitedly. “Tesoro!” Her arms hugged him tight, before she noted how cold his jacket was.

Frowning, “How long have you been out here?” Though before letting them answer, she waved a hand up, “Nevemind, come inside. It’s too cold out.” Stepping back into the house, she playfully let out her hands for their coats as soon as the door was closed.

loganmckeller

He’d once made a face at Pepper hugging Katie before Logan once, but really he was appreciative of their relationship. He was aware he couldn’t be a complete role model for Katie, being a brother who was too much of an introvert, really, to be guiding Katie to the outside world. He was glad for Pepper, who had quickly warmed up to his sister and vice versa.

He smiled now before looking behind Pepper to the inside of Pepper’s house, always warm and inviting. His eyes were drawn from the Christmas wreath outside when he felt familiar arms coming up to squeeze tightly, and he wondered how he thought he could go through the whole break without feeling those arms.

Then again, if their inks don’t match, he would have to go through the rest of his life without them.

He mentally shook his head and pressed a quick kiss to Pepper’s temple before fully separating from her, placing a hand on Katie’s back to urge her forward so she could enter first. He laughed when Katie placed her own on his back and actually moved behind him so she could push him forward to the warmth of the Mantovani household.

Katie was bouncing on the balls of her feet while they handed over their coats. “So what are we doing today?”

#ink

loganmckeller

Ink Part 1

“So, have you figured out how you’re going to deal with it?”

Logan didn’t even turn his head at the question, pretending to be so consumed in his essay that he didn’t hear his best friend’s approach and tasteless greeting. He knew what Synri was talking about, and Logan has not, in fact, figured out how he was going to deal with it.

It was only a couple of minutes later that a hand appeared in his field of vision, without regard for personal space and privacy as the owner of the said hand pointed towards Logan’s barely-written essay.

“Your surname is Mckeller.”

Logan stared at the words at the tip of Synri’s finger and noticed that, indeed, he didn’t even get as far as finishing writing his name before pretending to be immersed in this particular academic requirement.

Logan rolled his eyes, more to himself than Synri, and looked up at the shorter guy. “Don’t you need to be somewhere manipulating people?”

“It gets a bit dull,” Synri tutted, plopping down on the chair across from Logan. Actually, Synri never plops down. He always gracefully lowers himself unto a chair that would be lucky to have a Vanrith ass on it. Logan often wondered how they’d become friends when Synri was always the exemplary gentleman, and Logan tried really hard to become as less like his father as he could. So Logan didn’t even bother straightening his tie, much less worry about how he drops down on chairs.

Although, not fixing his tie always had the added bonus of having Pepper standing close to him for a few minutes, the female prefect as neat and tidy as Synri was in front of other students.

But that was beside the point.

Logan slumped in his seat now across an impeccably dressed and seated Synri, and Logan groaned. “You always think it’s better to bother me when you’re bored.”

“I thought that’s what friendships are for,” Synri tilted his head, the corner of his lip threatening to twitch in amusement.

With a huff, Logan threw his quill down, thinking that it would be better for his sanity to stop diverting the conversation from something Synri was obviously worrying over him about. The Slytherin prefect would never admit it, though.

“No, I haven’t thought about it. In fact, I’d rather not think about it at all.”

Synri raised an eyebrow. “And how is running from your problems treating you?”

“It’s not a problem.”

Synri raised both eyebrows now. “The fact that you’ve been agonizing about it for six months already implies otherwise.” Deciding to cut his best friend a bit of a slack, he leaned back on his chair, trying another tactic. “Have you talked to Pepper about it?”

Logan clenched his jaw, which was really all the answer Synri needed. He averted his gaze again, choosing to look out of the window, the vast amount of snow fall obscuring practically everything outside. It was winter break, leaving only a handful of people in their dorms, which Logan was really thankful for. He appreciated the quiet as he… brooded. “Pepper isn’t here, is she?”

Synri only rolled his eyes. “Again. Agonizing for six months. You’ve had time to bring it up. How did you even get out of the Mantovani Family invitation to stay over for the break?”

Logan slumped further into his seat, so low that if he slid any further, he’d be on the floor instead of the chair. “I wasn’t trying to get out of it. I love Pepper’s family.”

“But you’re terrified of her dad.”

“Her mom actually,” Logan mused absentmindedly, before shaking his head. “I convinced Pepper to spend this time with her parents. I have her for the rest of the year.”

“Pepper didn’t buy that.”

Disgruntled, Logan actually sat up to place his forearms on the table, directing a glare at Synri. “No, she didn’t. But I insisted.”

“Is this practice for when the ink shows up and you’re not paired?”

Logan gritted his teeth, but couldn’t help the sharp pang to his chest at the words that quite accurately summed up what he’d been worrying about for the past few months. “Fuck you, Syn.”

With nary another glance, Logan stood, crumpling the still empty parchment in front of him and stuffing it haphazardly inside his bag as he stood swiftly, slinging the strap over his head and walked purposefully away from one of the two people he knew would stick by him no matter what. He’d feel guilty about being an overdramatic asshole later. For now he wanted to stew in his bad mood.

Which would have lasted longer had his owl not caught up with him, settling automatically on his shoulder while he walked, and managing to balance on one claw while the other extended for Logan to take the letter. Knowing it could only be Pepper, he detached the letter and let his owl settle both claws on his uniform. He felt his lips twitch, because the train had only left late that morning, which meant it hadn’t even been twelve hours since they last saw each other, and Pepper was already sending him mail. He briefly wondered how his owl knew that Pepper was even intending to send him mail.

Lo,

I’m only on this train without you because you distracted me with kisses when you asked for me to spend break with my parents. I’m going to keep sending you mail until you say yes. Don’t think I won’t ask my mum to use that charm that could send thousands of mail to someone.

I know you said I should spend Christmas with family. I will. And, Lo, you’re my family, too.

Love,

Pepper

Logan raised a hand to his chest, pressing the heel of his hand on his breastbone where he felt both a warmth that he knew he’d only ever felt with Pepper. He released a breath as he looked up from the letter, only to slowly inhale, letting the familiar scent of the castle fill his lungs until he couldn’t feel the slight prick of whatever behind his eyes.

He knew he was going to break, anyway. He never could say no to Pepper. And with his parents on several events for the break for the several branches of the company worldwide, he was sure he could steal his sister away anytime. Probably everyday so she wouldn’t have to be around their parents.

Logan tapped the letter on the palm of his other hand as he thought about the logistics of his break, but not being able to stop his worries from cluttering his mind. It was still there, and it would be there until Pepper’s birthday. He didn’t know what he had wanted to accomplish by spending less time with Pepper, but the few hours they’d been separated was already wearing him down.

With a heavy sigh, he dropped his head to reread the words on the small piece of paper on his hand, already starting to give in to the request in it.

peppermantovani

The trip home was lonely and she was feeling particularly pouty about it. Since their sixth year didn’t have any major exams to worry about, she felt less inclined to study which only meant she spent far more time with Logan doing other things. Their trips to the greenhouses became more frequent and their place by the lake had become more inhabited than before. Making her way through the train after a brief holiday gift exchange with her fellow prefects, Pepper flopped down ungracefully beside her roommates.

“Get over it, Pepe,” Lia offered, barely looking up from her magazine. Pepper gave a slight kick across the seats but otherwise kept quiet.

Sure, they’d spent time apart before, but after spending just over three months constantly around one another had made her comfortable in always knowing he’d be there. The conversations of the space came and went and by the time Pepper was walking off the train, her excitement over the holiday had come back. Her favorite time of the year, she was ready to jump into the world of technology, shopping, and cooking that her home provided.

Her parents gave her a tight squeeze, even pausing to give her roommates one as well. After a few hours running errands, she finally arrived home. All through the day she had been working on a letter to send out to Logan. Giving it to her mother’s owl, Pepper smiled in satisfaction as it flew out in the window through the fading sunlight.

While she knew that Logan had denied her insistence the first few times, she hoped the time apart would make him want to reconsider. Not to mention, her family sincerely wanted to see him. Her father tried to hide it, but he enjoyed spending time with Logan–who could loosely be considered the only other male in the household. She smiled in wonder if she’d be able to see Katie as well during break, as she made her way to her luggage to unpack.

loganmckeller

“We should visit Pepper,” Katie insisted, sticking her spoon into her dessert.

They currently sat at a table by the window in Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour with Logan staring at his order and Katie almost finished with hers. Logan was already halfway to the decision to visit Pepper, having gone home to the Mckeller’s residence, and it was no secret that he hated being there. Which means he didn’t leave Hogwarts just to stay at the large mansion.

He shook his head. “We’ll bother them.”

“You already made sure we won’t by booking us a hotel room so we won’t have to sleep there. Although, I have a feeling you plan to visit everyday anyway...” Katie took another spoonful into her mouth before shrugging her shoulders are her older brother.